Social Deviance In Society

Sociologists believe that deviance is the result of unsuccessful socialization. With this being said, it makes sense that deviance surrounds us because not everyone can be perfectly socialized to fit in civilization’s cookie cutter image. Those who cannot fit in tend to become deviant, where they then violate the norms of society. Once those norms are violated, they are labeled as deviant and will continue to become more deviant as others define them that way. Sociologists also believe that the

“Deviance in sociological context describes actions or behaviors that violate cultural norms including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime) as well as informal violations of social norms.”

Beginning from a child we begin to experience different situations and interactions with others. We start getting taught the difference between right and wrong, what may be considered good and what is considered bad, and also taught the things we should and should not do. As we grow older we try to refrain from behavior of which society may disapprove of. Society see’s certain types of behavior as being deviant. First let’s begin by explaining what is a deviant behavior? Deviant behavior can be any behavior that does not conform to what people may consider normal, a behavior that does not meet with many expectations in society. Societies are both social structure and culture. Robert K Merton developed structural

Deviance as a word refers to any behavior regarded as odd or unacceptable. However, from a sociological point of view, deviance refers to any action or behavior that runs contrary to social norms (Macionis and Gerber 200). This includes crimes, which are violations of formally enacted rules, as well as violation of the socially accepted norms. Norms refer to the rules as well as the expectations that guide the conventional behavior of human beings (Macionis and Gerber 204). Thus, deviant acts arise from non-conformance with these norms. Deviance is relative, to both the time and the place. This is because an act that may appear deviant in a particular context may not be deviant in another. For example, fighting at school is a deviant behavior,

In sociology, the term deviance refers to all violations of social rules, regardless of their seriousness (Essentials of Sociology 136). Deviance is an individual or organizational behavior that violates societal norms and is usually accompanied by negative reactions from others. According to a sociologist S. Becker, he stated that it is not the act itself that makes an action deviant, but rather how society reacts to it.

‘social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. From this point of vie, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of the rules and sanctions to an ‘offender’. The deviant is one to whom the label has successfully been applied, deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label. (Becker 1963, pg 9)

Within any culture lies an array of definitive demeanors and actions that are deemed socially adequate and inadequate. Depending on the distinguishing behavior of a given individual and the society that they live in, there are invisible “laws” that prevent people from acting a certain way. If the individual’s behavior is adverse to the superior, predominant norms of their society, the actions of that individual are considered to be deviant. Social deviance in shown in a variety of dissimilar faces: within physical appearance, actions done to oneself and others, and religious groups.

The theory that is most useful in explaining deviance is conflict theory. Deviance is a behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction. The conflict theory explains that rules are applied unequally and that punishment for rule violations are unequally distributed. This theory explains deviance very well, because they explained the idea that both formal social control and informal social control can be used equally in society. I believe that this is true, because in multiple occasions people are arrested and they do not have enough money to have the opportunity to hire a lawyer that defense their case even if they are innocent, but for people that have money they have the opportunity to find a good lawyer and prove their innocence and sometimes even to get away from being guilty.

"Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders-deviance is not a quality of the act of a person commits, but rather a consequences of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an 'offender' The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label."

Social deviance is a violation of social norms. So what qualifies as a social deviant? According to sociologist, Howard S. Becker the best definition of social deviance is, “It is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act, that do something deviant.” In cultures around the world, there are many practices Americans find deviant, but in other cultures, it’s the norm. In many countries around the world, girls are married as young as 11 years old. To Americans, that is considered child abuse and rape, but that is only because of our social norms. To the men and parents in different countries, it is perfectly normal because their social norms. In America, social deviance comes in many different forms. We have our sexual deviants,

Social deviance is social behavior that goes against the norm. This type of behavior is frowned upon by much of society. Social deviance exists in any society where they have set social norms. The show that I believe displays social deviance is First 48. This show has been airing on A&E since 2005. This particular show is based on criminal acts and violence. The people in this show are labeled criminals, dumb, some stupid, less than, animals, bad people, and even ghetto by society. Society label people, without filters, and without knowing where people came from, or who they are. For most criminal’s murder is not the first offense, I feel that to commit a crime like murder, criminals work start with small petty or primary crimes like maybe stealing or cutting school and fighting. The maybe dropping out of school, gang banging, and even attempted murder. So secondary crimes that lead up to murder. So, from a troubled youth, young adult and they have now earned a label, and like most it’s easy to believe the worse, and they assume the position of the label or stigma that others have put on them. Next, we’re going to talk about Durkheim’s functions of defiance. Let’s start with the first of Durkheim's functions of deviance, which is that deviance makes our cultural values clear. Next, our defiance helps with defining our morality. Third, defiance helps us to come together as a society. And the final, fourth function is how defiance promotes social change.

Deviance is the criminal or non –criminal behaviour that violates the social norms of a society, and this behaviour gets disapproval from the majority (Cliffnotes, 2016). A social deviance in the small rural community of Barneyside, Westmoreland is a group of young men that is creating havoc on a portion of the community. They commit a number of illegal activities on a regular basis like breaking into people’s house and stealing their money and appliances. These set of young men also are involved in praedial larceny, and they mostly target cows and goats. Because these activities are carried out at nights, they have also developed a habit of blowing out the street lights so that the roads become dark. When the items are stolen they are sold

Deviance is defined as a behavior that departs from social norms, values and beliefs but it is not always criminal. There are two sociological theories that go along with deviance, Structural-functional and Conflict theory. Structural-functional views society as a complex system of parts that work together to do various functions. While, Conflict theory sees society as a whole and is based on inequality. Between these two theories the one I agree with the most is Conflict theory.

According to Kai Erikson, deviance and the control of deviance performs several positive functions for society. Erikson notes a suggestion posed in Durkheim’s book The Division of Labor in Society that crime and other forms of deviance server to draws a community together in a common posture of anger and indignation. Deviance causes society as a whole to band together and fight a common foe. Back in older times, this was accomplished through word of mouth, neighbors talking over fences, conversations at the local stores or bars and public meetings, trials, and punishment. In this day and age, people tend not to have the same level of personal face to face connections. Instead of the communal meetings and punishments, public outcry over

Deviance is described as being behaviour that is not part of the norms in your particular society. This can be different throughout the world because some cultures have very different norms (Stephens and Leach, 1998:17). Most deviant behaviour will attract disapproval from others in the society or punishment from authorities. There are many different types of deviance such as addiction, mental illness, alcoholism, criminality and homosexuality. Throughout this essay six types of theories will be discussed about how and why people are deviant. Four of these theories support the idea of deviance being biological and three support the idea of it being caused by your social construction. Also the essay will talk about the differences between