Social Strain Theory: An Example Of Deviance In Society

Deviance in our book is defined as, a behavior, trait, belief, or characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction. Deviance would be when we see someone who does something odd or unacceptable per our standards. Someone who shows up to work in pajamas would be an example of deviance. We expect for them to show up professionally for their job, It is a norm for people to dress appropriately for their occupation because that is society's standards. We see it as weird that someone showed up to work in their pj's. When someone breaks this norm, we see it as odd and it can be unacceptable to some people's standards. When something is breaking the norm, it would be considered as deviance.

The social strain theory describes how society puts out these goals for us, but these goals through lack of means or different goals can lead to deviance. There are certain goals that society puts out for us. Society expects everyone to reach the same goal in the same way. Take the American dream for example. The goal in the dream is for people to gain a lifestyle of wealth and good quality. Everyone is expected to reach the goal with hard work, and an education to get a good job. Not everyone has the ability or means to get a proper education to get a good job to reach the goal or some people don’t even want to reach the American dream. When this happens, it creates stain to those who want …show more content…
The labels are given depending on how the person accepts the label of deviant. Primary deviance is what gets you labeled as deviant in the first place. Let’s use a person that is a drug user. Their primary label is that they do drugs and that is illegal. The secondary label is when the person recognizes that their drug usage caused them to be an addict. The tertiary label is how the drug addict does not want to proceed with rehab and accepts that him being a drug addict is