Social Deviance Essay

Deviance is a term used when a person violates a social normality. Deviance can be minor or they can be extreme. Using public behavior for example, if a person were to walk around without shoes in public, it would be considered odd and deviant behavior. Or if a person invaded someone 's space it would be considered rude and questionable behavior. My reasoning for not breaking social normality is simple: to break a social normality would be considered odd and I would rather not be percieved as such. Furthermore I believe these social norms are in place for a reason. They are the pillars in our society and I uphold them as such. It is not to say that I have not commited any social deviance before. When I was younger, I might have had a sticky fingers and taken miscellanous stuff I felt wasn 't needed from a local

Willam Summer came up with the notion of catergorizing "norm" into three groups: folkways, mores, and laws. Folkways are the customs of everyday life. It 's a type of norm that holds expectations for how we act and are mild but loosely socializied expectations. Violating a folkway does not usually hold any serious consequences. Mores are based in morality and hold more serious disapproval. Laws are written by an offical government or agency. Violating the law could result in distinct and severe punishment depending upon the crime. An important thing to note that different cultures and different situations have different social norms. What is considered the norm in the United States may be percvied as odd, rude and offensive in another country. In some countries haggling and bargaining for an item is accepted and encouraged. In the United States it would be widely frowned upon to argue with your local friendly store clerk about the price. Also in different situaitons there are different social norms. For example, if a guy were shirtless and had summer shorts on inside of a store, it would be seen as