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What Are Deviant Behavior?

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Joe File Final Exam Deviant Behavior June 30, 2015 Professor Carlino What is Deviant Behavior? Week 1 Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms, and is usually sever enough to warrant disapproval from the majority of society. Deviance can be criminal or non‐criminal. The sociological discipline that deals with behavior that violates laws is criminology. Today, society considers such activities as alcoholism, excessive gambling, being nude in public places, playing with fire, stealing, lying, refusing to bathe, purchasing the services of prostitutes, and cross‐dressing as deviant. People who engage in deviant behavior are referred to as deviants. The concept of deviance is complex because norms vary considerably across groups, times, and places. In other words, what one group may consider acceptable, another may consider deviant. Some examples of deviant behavior could include: • Dog fighting/animal abuse • Gang mentality • Pedophiles • Window peeping • Stalking Theories for Deviant Behavior Week 2 From week one’s readings, we learned what deviant behavior was and why it is considered deviant. Deviant behavior can be defined as behavior that differs from the normal, behavior that incurs public disapproval and behavior that is usually subject to some form of sanction. Now, we can go on and discuss the theories of deviance. The two that I found were labeling theory and the control theory. First off is the labeling theory. In

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