Folkway Norm

Many people may believe that the word deviance focuses mainly on aggressive behavior; however, you could demonstrate deviance passively as well. For instance, there are many conceptions of deviance. The two broad terms that make up deviance would be positive and negative deviance. Positive deviance is behavior that is outside of a norm but can be viewed as behavior that over-conforms to norms. An example of positive deviance is wearing to much makeup. On the other hand, negative deviance is a behavior that fails to meet norms accepted by society. An example would be driving while intoxicated. In other words, “Norms are rules of behavior that guide people’s actions “(Inderbitzin, Bates and Gainey 2015: 3). For a norm to be violated it has to be going against what people find as normal or common in a society. A norm violation could be wearing clothes on the wrong side or actively speaking to everyone that you pass by. These norms are deviant because society does not believe that it is common. Society often place boundaries and limits to what you should and should not do. In our society, our culture values conformity so people do things to fit the societies standard.

Folkway norms are basically everyday norms based on traditions. Specifically, this type of norm does not cause any harm to myself or anyone else, however it sometimes will label you as being weird or very odd. For the deviant act, I chose drinking soda from a bowl because it is not something you typically would see while in a public place or even at your own home. The norm would be drinking soda from a bottle or cup. There are several reasons why drinking soda from a bowl is deviant. Firstly, you are breaking a table manner and secondly, you are going against what society thinks is the proper social behavior. As a result, I deviated in a public place and caught many people