Deviance Essay

Deviance is defined as the divergence from cultural, social, or behavioral norms. Deviants are people who demonstrate divergences fitting the above definition – those who partake in antisocial actions, violate laws, abuse drugs, and the violent. This does not mean that deviant status is only limited to the violent, criminal, or antisocial. The label can also signify that one deviates from social norms of a specific area or social group. Additionally, choosing to embrace particular religious beliefs, a sexual preference, or the drinking of alcohol is possibly deviant when it does not correspond with the standard customs of the given setting.

Continuing, the sociological perspective implies that “deviance can only be defined in the presence of rules” (Freed, 2011). Deviance, as such, is the significance of the application of certain regulations to behaviors. Because it is defined in relation to rules of a specific social setting, however, the behavior can technically fit into both categories, the social norm and deviance, depending on what grouping one is regarding. For instance, alcohol use is quite normal within western nations, the United States and most of Europe, but in Islamic nations, i.e. Iran and Saudi Arabia, alcohol is forbidden.

Deviant behavior is frequently associated with antisocial behavior as the acts are frequently troublesome and disruptive. Participation in crime, drug and/or alcohol abuse, violence and aggression are the most commonly known deviant behaviors. Drug and alcohol abuse, in particular, are common because “people often seek to engage in activities that are go against the normal social desires” (). Everyone, at some point, wants to be rebellious, open-minded, blissful, and independent. As well, many pe...

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...d by her now former boss. One cannot blame him, as the act of returning to a former employment site shortly after being terminated is quite unusual unless inciting trouble is the goal. His son is at this moment being rolled into the ER suffering from an overdose after succumbing to his addiction. He then ignoring protocols insists she help him save his son.

Despite their best effort, his son is gone. Jackie tells him that he did the best he could but they both know that is not the truth. As a doctor, he had done all he could but as a father he had fallen short. Jackie is then ordered away again. Finally, getting to her friend she acknowledges that she “made it.”

She did make it. Despite all the odds, she made it through the toughest part of recovery. She found herself in spite of the dramas. She did this all drug free. She found normalcy when deviance was her home.