Deviance:

Deviant Behavior

Sociologically, deviance requires a norm or rule, a norm or rule violator, an audience, and a likelihood that the violation will elicit a negative response. Sound simple enough? Maybe if you take the easy way out in saying that deviance is the difference between what is right and what is wrong. However deviance is not an absolute verdict for the right and wrong. Sociologists have two perspectives about deviance and they are the positivist and constructionist perspectives. Positivists believe in three elements and they are absolutism meaning deviance is absolutely intrinsically real, objective: deviance is an observable object and determinism: deviance is a determined behavior; it is a product of cause and effect. Constructionist object to the three elements of the positivist perspective and I have come up with their own; relativism: deviance is a label, defined as such at a given time and place, subjective: deviance is a subjective experience and voluntarism: deviance is a voluntary act; it is non-causal. Most people have a hard time trying to figure out which perspective is right and which one is wrong, when in all actuality, neither one is right or wrong.
We have already discussed this topic during class which explains deviance and crime. This section talks more about deviance being a learned behavior. Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms. Deviance is often divided into two types of deviant activities. The first, crime is the violation of formally enacted laws and is referred to as formal deviance. Examples of formal deviance would include: robbery, theft, rape, murder, and assault, just to name a few. The second type of deviant behavior refers to violations of informal social norms, norms that have not been codified into law, and is referred to as informal deviance. Examples of informal deviance might include: picking one's nose, belching loudly (in some cultures), or standing too close to another unnecessarily (again, in some cultures).