Deviancy in Society

782 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Deviant behaviour examples

There are many different kinds of deviancy in today’s society. In this essay I will tell you the meaning of deviance, the different kinds of deviancy, the biological, social, and psychological factors on deviant behavior, and how they differ from each other.
According to James M. Henslin, Editor of Down to Earth Sociology, “For society to exist, people must be able to know what to expect of others.” “People develop norms to provide regularity to social life.” “Deviancy is the violation of these rules and expectations.” So according to Mr. Henslin, we all have deviant tendencies in us at some point in our lives. We all violate rules and expectations others have created whether it is a minor or large-scale offense.
In today’s society, the word deviant is used very commonly and its meaning becomes distorted. People might associate the word deviant with being twisted, nasty, or perverted. “Deviance is not a term for negative judgment.” It just means anyone to violate the expectations of others. The norms that we create cover three basic aspects of human behavior: our appearance, manner, and conduct. The rules of appearance and manner, if broken, are usually called civil disobedience and conduct is usually called criminal disobedience.
The first major type of deviance that will be mentioned is against the appearance norm. The expectations of appearance concerns clothing, make-up, hairstyle, and other “social extensions of a person.” There are even certain expectations on things...

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Deviance In Benny And Joon

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Deviance is described as “the recognized violation of cultural norms”(Macionis 238). While deviance can include crime, it is not always such. Deviance can mean trying to sneak into a hospital room, desperately searching for someone like the character of Benny in the movie Benny and Joon. Or it could be preforming on the streets for people to watch. Deviance isn’t always a criminal act. The movie Benny and Joon gave several examples of deviant behavior portrayed by the three main characters, Benny, Joon, and Sam.

    Read More

  • Social Deviance Application: Charles Manson

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social deviancy is the violation of social norms. A deviant is someone who rejects folkways and mores. Any action that violates the values or rules of a social group is deviant behavior. In order to actually be characterized as a deviant, the individual must be detected committing a deviant act and be stigmatized by society. A stigma is a mark of social disgrace, setting the deviant apart from the group. Criminality is healthy for society. Deviance affirms our cultural values and norms. Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries and brings people together. There will always be people who break society’s rules and that’s important.

    Read More

  • Sloppy Eating As A Social Deviance

    2505 Words  | 6 Pages

    Societies are founded on various social norms. Norms can best be defined as a set of acceptable attitudes and practices by a given society. These norms however are found to vary from one society or cultural setting o the other. Deviance on the other hand is simply when one does something that goes against the set societal norms. Deviance is gauged on a scale of attitudes and behavior contradicting to acceptable social standards (Samuels, 2012).

    Read More

  • Deviant Behavior: Deviance: Positive, And Consequences

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    Deviant behavior is sociologically defined as, when someone departs from the “norms”. Most of the time when someone says deviance they think against the law or acting out in a negative behavior. To sociologists it can be both positive and negative. While most crimes are deviant, they are not always. Norms can be classified into two categories, mores and folkways. Mores are informal rules that are not written; when mores are broken, they can have serious punishments and sanctions. Folkways are informal rules that are just expected to be followed, but have no real repercussions.

    Read More

  • The Sociology of Deviance Disputing it is Dead

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    Goode, E 2006, 'IS THE DEVIANCE CONCEPT STILL RELEVANT TO SOCIOLOGY?', Sociological Spectrum, 26, 6, pp. 547-558, SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 3 June 2014.

    Read More

  • Positivist and Constructionist Theories: Basic Differences

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    There exists conflicting theories among sociologists in the area of determining why a person is considered to be a deviant, and the reasons behind why he or she has committed a deviant act. From a positivistic perspective, deviance is based on biological or social determinism. Alternatively, from a constructionist perspective, deviance is created and assigned by society. Both perspectives seek to give a theory for why a person may become known as deviant. Although they both view similar acts as deviant, the basic differences between positivists and constructionists theories are clear.

    Read More

  • Social Deviance And The Strain Theory

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sociologists understand the concept of deviance in a variety of ways. It is the result of unsuccessful socialization, the solutions are usually intended to change the mind of the individual, and that order needs to remain maintained. Norms determine whether something is deviant or normal. So deviance depends on the social status and power of the person, the social context in which the behavior occurs, and the historical place it takes place in. Deviance is all about violating the day to day norms and is usually considered to be wrong, bad, or immoral.

    Read More

  • What Is The Mystification Of Social Deviance?

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the 1950’s theorists focused on what the difference was between deviants and criminals from “normal” citizens. In the 1950’s researchers were more involved exploring meaning and reasons behind deviant acts. This led to the most dominant question in the field of deviance, “what is the structural and culture factors that lead to deviant behavior?” This question is important when studying deviance because there is no clear answer, everyone sees deviance in different ways, and how deviance is created. Short and Meier states that in the 1960’s there was another shift in focus on the subject of deviance. The focus was what causes deviance, the study of reactions to deviance, and the study of rule breaking and rule making. In the 1960’s society was starting to speak out on what they believed should be a rule and what should not; this movement create chaos in the streets. However, it gave us a glimpse into what makes people become deviant, in the case it was the Vietnam War and the government. Short and Meier also write about the three levels that might help us understand were deviance comes from and how people interact to deviance. The first is the micro level, which emphasizes individual characteristics by biological, psychological, and social sciences. The second level is macrosociological that explains culture and

    Read More

  • What´s Deviance?

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    From a sociological understanding, deviance is any behavior or physical appearance that is condemned from social standards because it defies social norms or social expectations. Sociological understanding of deviance is not always associated with a negative outcome, but can have positive effects for the individual or soceity. With the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks was seen deviant for sitting at the front of a bus and refusing to move when a white male came on board. This act of civil rights not only made a stance for improving African American rights, but also helped change social norms.. From an everyday understanding, deviance is any behavior or physical appearance that is seen with a bad or negative outlook. An example of an everyday understanding of deviant behavior can be seen as an individual having tattoos all over his or her body. Some individuals would consider tattoos covering someone’s entire body are bad or a negative appearance, even if the tattoos had significant meaning to that specific individual.

    Read More

  • Deviance in the Film Sleepers

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Deviance is the behavior and the standards of expectations of a group or society. It is also behavior that is considered dangerous, threatening or offensive. The people that are deviant are often labeled to be weirdos, oddballs, or creeps. In the United States, people with tattoos, drug addicts, alcoholics, and compulsive gamblers are all considered deviant. Sociologists believe that everybody is deviant from time to time. They believe each person will violate a social norm in certain situations. People are considered deviant if they don't stand for the national anthem at a sports event, dress casually to a fancy restaurant, or skip classes. One category of deviance is Crime. Crime is a violation of norms that have been formally enacted into a law. Another category of deviance is humorous. Deviance is relative, what is deviant in one group or society may not be deviant in another group or society.

    Read More

  • What is Deviance?

    858 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deviance is defined as actions or behaviors that violate socials norms. In turn the concept of deviance is dependent on the social observation and perception. “By it’s very nature, the constructionism through which people define and interpret actions or appearances is always “social.” ”(Henry, 2009 , p. 6) One’s perception of a situation may be completely different from another depending on cultural and social factors. The way someone talks, walks, dresses, and holds themselves are all factors that attribute to how someone perceives another. In some cases what is socially or normally acceptable to one person is deviant in another’s eyes. For this reason there is a lot of gray area involving the topic of deviance because actions and behaviors are so diversely interpreted.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Deviance

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is deviance? What does it mean? What determines a behavior as deviant? Deviance is anything that violates a social norm. For example, when a child burps at the supper table but doesn’t excuse himself. Who we socialize and spend time with will determine what we deem as deviant behavior. There are many types of deviant behaviors, some of these behaviors may not be considered deviant to one culture but to another they are.

    Read More

  • Prostitution as a Form of Deviance

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Labelling People

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deviance is amongst other things a consequence of the response of others to a persons act. Students of deviance can not assume that they are dealing with a homogenous category. When they study people who have been labelled deviant (Howard Becker)

    Read More

  • Deviance and Social Control

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    As we all have observed, throughout history each culture or society has unique norms that are acceptable to that group of people. Therefore, to establish and come to the acceptance of these basic norms, each society must develop its’ own strategies and techniques to encourage the fundamentals of behavior, which is clear in our modern society. Most do assume that everyone in a society will follow and respect such norms. However, some tend to deviate from the adequate norms and demonstrate deviant behavior. Nevertheless, we are inclined to ask ourselves, why do people decide to violate such important standards of living?

    Read More

More about Deviancy in Society

Open Document