Deviance Sociologists general defines deviance as “an action that is perceived as violating a society’s or groups cultural norm”. Deviance can be perceived in many different ways. Vegetarians and Muslims are both groups that do not consume meat. Although these groups are not breaking the law. Their behavior is different than what is accepted to be normal.
After reading these articles I garnered a greater insight on what deviance is and how it is formed. According to the Outsiders reading, deviance is essentially a label that is put on a person of whom commits an act or exhibits behaviors that stray from what is normal or expected. These people are therefore also labeled as “outsiders”. Outsiders in that they are seen as those who are to be placed outside of a certain group do to their deviant behaviors. There exist many views of deviance.
Deviance is categorized as a violation of cultural norms. In order for one to express deviance, they must act out against societal norms which are known as expectations and rules that "lead the way" for how an individual should act. Therefore, its much easier to depict from there that mostly one's society is what ultimately differentiates what the rules and expectations are as well as what it needed to break those rules that they have somewhat instilled and ingrained into our daily lives. To add, due to society and different eras of socialization deviant behavior evolves over time.
The strain theory was one of the earliest theories that explained social deviance which was developed by Robert Merton .Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two criteria of which is a person's motivations or their adherence to cultural goals and a person's belief in how to attain his goals. According to Merton, there is a time when cultural defined goals become so oppressive that an individual may feel forced to use alternative methods to reach these goals. According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria which are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. When it comes to conformity it involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those goals. Innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the legitimate means of attaining those goals.
For example Deviance-which means “any behavior or physical appearance that is socially challenged or condemned, because it departs from the norm and expectations from a group”(Ferrante).
In Flannery Oconnors “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” we are introduced to a family preparing for a much deserved vacation that will include their highly “religious” Grandmother, who seems to fatally doom the family before they even set off on the road to their destination. She warns her son, the father of the family, that a fugitive known as “The Misfit” has just been released in their destination of Florida. Despite her warnings the family insists on sticking to the original plan, and begin to set off towards Florida. This is the only time in the story where the Grandmother should have stuck with her first instinct, or ‘gut” feeling, instead of ignoring it which we see results in the families ultimate downfall at the hands of “The Misfit.”
When the family comes in contact with the escaped convict, the Misfit, that is when they realize, especially the grandmother, the importance of a family. This is because the Misfit sheds light on a new way to look at family. When all the violence and gunshots are going rampant, familial love is acknowledged since the family is losing its loved ones. At the end of the story is where familial love is present because throughout the story, each character has his own desires and does not care about the others. That is when the grandmother extends familial love outward, as she tells the Misfit that “‘you’re one of my own children’” which shows that just as violence introduces moments of grace, it also gives birth to familial love out from beneath mundane arguments and disagreements (O’Connor 377).
Deviance is described as a violation of culture norms. In Jonestown as a Perverse Utopian they described it as a cult. There are cults all round the world however, it is not a norm to be in on or know of one personally. On December 8th, due to their utopian cult there was a mass suicide of 911 people. The leader believed that for many years the “followers needed” to be poisoned with opium and then cyanide.
Deviance has many functions in society. Although deviance violates social norms, without it, we would not have rules, so it helps form, guide, and shape society’s norms and goals. Social norms are different from culture to culture. Norms that may be acceptable in one culture may be frowned upon in another. Emile Durkheim quotes that “deviance and deviant behavior is an integral part of all healthy societies (Adler, 2014, p74).”
the last but most important point deviant behaviour is labelling that is most of the people after this are thought bad or good depending on deviation . and the group or that organization is always thought to be the same and not accepted by the society later . “Once the deviant label is attached, it is pretty hard for it to be
According to Hunt and Colandar (2011), a word deviant refers to when an individual’s actions contradict with society’s norms. For instance, majority peoples followed norms because society expect individual to behave in morally tolerate with each other. Those failing to conform the norms noted as deviant. In a social context, the task of the society is to blind the action of the social community together. Once failing to act them to the society’s reaction that seem as deviant.
Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society. Deviance can be criminal or noncriminal. Media helps us frame the way we think, act, and choose. Children have growing brains
Although the term deviance usually carried a negative characteristic in first impression trough out history, afterward the term positive deviance was also introduced and analyzed. To begin with according to (“positive deviance.org”2015), “Positive Deviance is established on the inspection that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their colleagues, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or even worse challenges”. “Positive deviance somehow exceeds social expectations. Moreover positive deviance can also be defined as individual or acts of individuals in a society that are superior because they super pass
Many groups or cultures have different views on what is considered deviant.
Acts that are viewed as deviant vary between social orders. Deviance can be said to be socially built; the general public chooses what is degenerate, individuals or an individual can be named as aberrance because of their societal position, race, ethnicity
