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The Purpose And Functions Of Deviance In Society

735 Words3 Pages

There are many behaviors that were earlier considered as crimes but with the passage of time and changes in the social perspectives of the society, many of these behaviors today are merely deviances for instance alcoholism, immorality, cheating, sexual perversion. Deviance is a concept that tells us about the behaviors that depart from the normal and are looked down upon by the society to make people desist from these behaviors. For instance, for a religious norm, Fear of God’s curse and punishment in hell are supposed to keep people behave according to social norms as there is no written law to deal with deviant behavior. Society deals with deviance through Ostracism and societal boycott.

The law serves many purposes and functions in society. Four principal purposes and functions are establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes, and protecting liberties and rights.

i. Establishing standards.
The law is a guidepost for minimally acceptable behavior in society. Some activities, for instance, are crimes because society (through a legislative body) has determined that it will not tolerate certain behaviors that injure or damage persons or their property. For example, under a typical state law, it is a crime to cause physical injury to another person without justification—doing so generally constitutes the crime of assault. If there were no laws, it would mean that people could do anything they wished, a situation called anarchy. A state of anarchy becomes

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