Example Of Deviance In Society

Deviance is behavior that does not conform to basic cultural norms and expectations. Having tattoos, being attracted to the same sex, stealing, rapping, child molestation and sex before marriage are examples of deviant behavior. There are disagreements about deviance, what it is, how to define it, and what causes it. Deviance can be complicated to define because it has so many things that factor into it things like, culture, race, society and more. What is considered deviant has changed over time. Women first started wearing pants in 1851, called bloomers. Women who wore pants were considered deviant. However, body modification and drugs that where once frond upon and considered a deviant are now trends and norms of today’s society. Why has …show more content…
In an article, the authors stated “Changing norms seriously complicates attempts to evaluate standards for the deviance. Acceptability of cigarette smoking, for example, has risen and fallen a number of times in the united states since 1800s” (Troyer and Markle, 1983). This is true because many things that where not considered deviant in past times are now deviant in our society as, doing drugs, domestic abuse, and spouse rap. Society also has a say in what deviance is. An example of different views from society on deviance states “Deviance is often a socially created condition. Society defines an act as deviant through political process that exerts power within some symbolic and moral context” (Benyanhuda, 1990). The reality of deviance in today’s society. For a college student getting drunk and partying every weekend might not be a deviant behavior but for a pastor of a church to get drunk and party that would be deviant behavior. If an unmarried person asked someone on a date that would not be a deviant act, if a married person asked someone on a date that would be a deviant act. If a teenage girl got pregnant it’s probably a deviant act but if a thirty year old got pregnant it’s not a deviant act. Smoking weed in today’s society is not deviant, it’s a trend that everyone is doing, and in fact it’s normal. It’s normal for college kids to be on drugs, it’s not a deviant behavior. They have been trying to legalize weed for …show more content…
Are we even the ones that are not doing the acts of deviance even allowed to define what deviance is? In the deviants view their actions may be just and right. In today’s society deviance is mostly defined by the environment, and your surrounds. If you are apart of a gang it’s probably deviant to go to the police station and give them information about a crime you know. In that, group of people it is acceptable to kill people, sell drugs. In our society by law that is a crime and a deviant act.
Deviance has changed through time because of time. We don’t live in those same times and has time progress we have realized the way we where doing things weren’t right or even ethically.
In this generation there are a lot of deviant norms that are against the law and deviant but to my generation there are norms and are acceptable. Smoking weed is acceptable, having sex before marriage is acceptable having five kids and being on government support is a norm. Everything is social media based, if it’s on face book than it’s acceptable. It’s a norm to have all the social media apps, and conforming to everyone else and what everyone is doing.
I believe in the future deviance is going to be a norm and acceptable. Cultural trends make deviant things popular, fun they become