Deviant Behavior

Deviant acts, or acts that are that are considered to be against the social norms of society, or to be more specific in this case, acts that are considered to be criminal by nature or in short, crime, have always been an issue in various societies. Naturally, this led to governments devising various methods intended as solutions to cope with what is considered to be threats against the norms of society as a response.

The prime focus of a good school bus driver is to transport students safely to and from school. This depends partly on students' behavior inside the school bus. If the students are annoying and chaotic, drivers may not be able to concentrate on the road and hence the safety of transportation will be at stake.

If I were the king or Queen of the Kingdom by making strict laws where everyone who breaks the law should be enroll in forceful rehabilitation programs for mild deviances and incarceration for those criminal offences. I will lead with the purpose of transparency and doing the correct things to build trust in my kingdom and lead by example. Deviant behaviors include all those violations of social norms or breaking the law. This includes any behavior that is not normal within the individual’s normal behavior. In our society all, the behaviors are seen either as deviant or as a normal behavior. The lecture # 3 of the class explains, “It is not the act itself, but the reaction to the act, that makes something deviant.” There are many unique groups

For sociologist deviant behavior is the behavior that fails to conform to the rules or norms of the group in question. (Durkheim, 1960) So if we are to determine whether an act is deviant or not, it is relative to the group who is enforcing the rule. This view is based on society as a whole and how they choose to govern themselves.

Deviance is the variation from a set of norms or shared social expectations and deviants as the people who violate these shared expectations (page 149). A person may think of deviance or deviant act, as someone who is breaking the law or have some type of behave problem. What do you consider a deviant act?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary the term “deviant” can be defined as, “deviating or departing from the norm” (2007). Webster also defines deviant as “a person or thing that deviates or departs markedly from the accepted norm” (2007). This particular word has a strong correlation to the sports world, whether its basketball, football, tennis, or any other sport, deviant behavior can occur. According to research there are two different types of deviant behavior in sport. Those two versions of deviant behavior are under-conformity and over-conformity. Under-conformity refers to “behavior that does not conform to the generally accepted rules of sport” (Woods, 2007). An example of under-conformity would be when respective athletes break their team rules, school rules, or the rules for competition. Over-conformity refers to the “expectation of high performance sport” (Citation). Over-conformity has several different examples but some of the more prominent examples are athletes that use supplements to improve their strength, and or physique (Woods, 2007).

I am going to use a Professional Journal to explain an internationalist perspective and a focus on Ch.6 on Deviance. The journal main focus is to explain how parents influence deviant behavior among teens , it also an analysis their family life, community and peers. In the research, Carlson uses enlarging crime rates to the rise in secure detention facilities, with juvenile crime increasing. He uses three factors that have been found with the ability to aid in decreasing these rates. The factors are what has been recently explain, the teens family, community, and peers, with an overall factor of parenting. Carlson remarks how parents influence the deviant behavior in their children through their parent techniques and the family structure. He argues that without effective monitoring and support of a child and consistent punishments that are vital to rising child, teens are more likely to turn to deviant behavior.

Deviant Behavior can’t just be assumed and considered Deviant. If there was a natural disaster that just hit and every one’s houses and car’s and person belongings were destroyed there would be behavior that is deviant from their normal behavior (comer). Of course, someone is going to experience deviant behavior if they just had their house blown away by a tornado or Hurricane. Anyone would be devastated and result in different behavior, because that is a lot of stress and a terrible circumstance to experience for anyone. You also need to take someone’s culture into consideration when defining behavior as deviant, because in someone else’s culture certain behavior is considered a norm for them (comer).

There are types of deviant behaviour which are called delinquency. This refers to acts that are criminal, or are considered anti-social, which are committed by young people (Harambolos & Holburn, 2004, p.331). However, many deviant acts that are disapproved of are not defined as criminal. For example suicide and alcoholism are not illegal

Norms are found everywhere in our society, whether we know it or not. In sociology, norms are social expectations that guide behavior. Norms explain why people do what they do in given situations. For example, in the classroom, students are expected to sit in their desk and participate in a class discussion or pay attention to the lesson at hand. Violating these norms is considered deviant or in other words, rude or unusual.

Deviance is a violation of a social norm in a society. In the sociological perspective, it is not one’s individual characteristics that lead to deviant behavior but rather the social interactions, structures, and processes that lead to one’s deviant behavior. In turn, deviance is socially constructed by a society or group itself. A group dictates what is the norm in their community and what is abnormal, or deviant, in their eyes. Deviance is functional in a society.

Deviance is defined as the violation of social norms. Someone who is deviant usually breaks a rule and is engaged even in a small negative act such as a fistfight. Deviant acts can be considered serious offenses in our society, but may be tolerated in another. Let’s say for example, an earthquake hits the United States and the victims steal bread, water, clothes or any such thing to feed their families, this act is deviant but understandable. Different groups of people define deviant acts differently from one another. For example, a parent may define their 16 year old as deviant for smoking, meanwhile their son defines his best friend as deviant for not smoking. “Deviance is socially constructed and dependent on the time and social context.” (Page 147. Ballatine,Roberts,Korgen)

Everyone in today's society has participated in forms of deviant behavior whether they're aware of it or not! Deviant behavior refers to violations of social norms. Norms are behavioral codes or prescriptions that guide people into actions and self-presentations conforming to social acceptability. American sociologists, William Sumner (1907) formed three types of norms: folkways, mores, and laws. The behavior I partaken in is considered to be Mores. Mores is based on norms that would generate social condemnation. Individuals who usually violate mores may be considered wicked or bad and potentially harmful to society. To a certain extent some acts would be considered deviant depending on who commits the act or who feels they have been harmed

Motivation to deviate could be grouped into two categories, sociological and psychological. Robert Merton, theory of anomie, “ deviant behaviour results from a disjunction between cultural defined goals such as success, to which most members of society aspire and institutionalised norms viewed as acceptable or legitimate” Merton further explains that the reason for deviant behaviour ranges across the ‘conformity – deviance spectrum’ (Merton….) and he classifies these behaviours into five forms of behaviour. These five behaviours are, conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.

Deviant and normal are opposites and the use of deviance can only be used when the normal is in existence. This is where people start asking the question; “is this behaviour then normal?”If it was believed as normal it would mean that alcohol and drug abuse would be deviant; it would mean that being exceptional at sport and school work would also be deviant. Deviant is not only due to the behaviour that is unusual to others but will