Deviance 101

Deviance is a social construct and is constantly changing. To understand what I mean by that statement there are specifics things one needs to know about deviance. What does deviance mean? Well, the social norms are what define what is socially acceptable and what is not. The socially unaccepted action would fall into the category of deviance. Social norms or simply put norms are "behavioral codes or prescriptions that guide people into actions and self-presentations conforming to social acceptability. Norms need not be agreed upon by every member of the group doing the defining, but a clear or vocal majority must agree.” (Adler and Adler, 2009, p.11).
Norms are created in society to have an in and out group. This allows for boundaries to be drawn of right and wrong; it also shows what the social order is. We could keep going back and forth and just saying what deviance is and what norms are but there are conceptions of deviance to consider.

William Sumner (an American Sociologist) defined three concepts or types of deviance. The first is called a folkway; it is "a simple everyday norm based on custom, tradition, or etiquette.” (Adler and Adler, 2009, p.11). A violation of a folkway is not a major offense it may have just been seen as strange, such as a women walking around with an umbrella on a sunny day or wearing sunglasses inside a building. There are many of these that people see on a daily occasion and it does not interrupt their daily life. The next type is a more (”mor-ays”) defined by Sumner as “norms based on broad societal morals whose infraction would generate more serious social condemnation.” (Adler and Adler, 2009, p.11). Some examples of mores are same sex marriage, teenage mothers/fathers, and transgendered individuals. These can be seen as violating the social order. The third and final type of deviance he mentions are called laws. People that violate these norms are “subject to arrest and punishments ranging from fines to imprisonment (and possibly even death)…regarded as necessary for maintaining social order.”(Adler and Adler, 2009, p.12).

Then there is the fact that people can be labeled as deviant. Attitudes, behaviors, or conditions are known as the ABCs of deviance. Attitudes are based on peoples' belief system and this is most often tied to religious and political beliefs. The deviant people in this situation would include: cult members, radicals, and mental illness are just a few of the types of deviants that are associated with attitude. Behavior is based on external actions that can be considered deviant. These can be purposeful or unintended. An unintended behavior could be having a speech impediment. The purposeful would be to engage in activities that are known to be out of the norm such as: a sorority/fraternity member continually not attending mandatory chapter meetings and an underage person with a fake ID going into a bar. To complete the ABCs of deviance would be to end with conditions. Conditions are “ascribed deviant status, based on a condition they acquire from birth.” (Adler and Adler, 2009, p.13). This does not mean a birth defect. It could be because of their family’s economic status that they were born into (poor or rich); another example could be a person born addicted to crack or fetal alcohol syndrome.  They did not plan on their mother being "irresponsible"/deviant before they were born. It is not their fault that they were born this way, but the label of being a "crack or alcohol baby" will remain with them the rest of their lives. It could be because of a physical disability acquired at birth but that is not necessarily always the case.

In summary deviance is going against a social norm. Sumner had three types of deviance: folkways, mores, and laws. Then there were the ABC’s of deviance: attitudes, behaviors, and conditions. Are there things that we do in the United States that are considered a social norm but could be considered deviant to another culture? When considering this question think of all the concepts mentioned earlier.