Social Deviance: Societal Norms
Literature Review
Ali Knechtel
Portage College
SOC101
February 14, 2017
Deviance incorporates behaviors, norms and traits considered a violation of the societal norms or those that trigger negative reactions from the society. There is a wide array of social deviance definitions depending on aspects such as time, situation and the culture. It is also important to note that while some forms of social deviance involve large groups of the community such as piercings and tattoos while, others are only perpetrated by very minute portions of the community such as those who commit murders. Interaction also results in the formation of certain deviant behaviors while others result from conflict or genetic markers. The criminal justice system …show more content…
In sociology, the term deviance depicts a social judgment and not a moral judgment and since a deviant behavior is one that defies the expectations of a particular community, but not necessarily immoral. As such, one community might perceive a certain behavior as a crime while other communities perceive the behavior a norm. For example, the popular culture resonates closely with deviant characters such as sociopaths and psychopaths with Hannibal and Sherlock Holmes being ideal examples, in spite of the fact that such individuals have inherent social control and manipulative skills which enable them to blend with the rest of the society, making them that much more dangerous (Hare, …show more content…
The criminal justice system has many objectives which it intends to achieve through various punishments. One such objective is to deter social deviants by threatening them with the possibility of facing harsh punishment to pay for their crimes (Ferris & Stein, 2016). The criminal justice system also achieves retribution by responding to crime by retaliating or revenging the crime. The criminal justice system also incapacitates social deviants so as to protect members of the society through imprisonment or execution in some cases. Additionally, the system also intends to rehabilitate criminals so as to encourage them to refrain from socially deviant
Ali Knechtel
Portage College
SOC101
February 14, 2017
Deviance incorporates behaviors, norms and traits considered a violation of the societal norms or those that trigger negative reactions from the society. There is a wide array of social deviance definitions depending on aspects such as time, situation and the culture. It is also important to note that while some forms of social deviance involve large groups of the community such as piercings and tattoos while, others are only perpetrated by very minute portions of the community such as those who commit murders. Interaction also results in the formation of certain deviant behaviors while others result from conflict or genetic markers. The criminal justice system …show more content…
In sociology, the term deviance depicts a social judgment and not a moral judgment and since a deviant behavior is one that defies the expectations of a particular community, but not necessarily immoral. As such, one community might perceive a certain behavior as a crime while other communities perceive the behavior a norm. For example, the popular culture resonates closely with deviant characters such as sociopaths and psychopaths with Hannibal and Sherlock Holmes being ideal examples, in spite of the fact that such individuals have inherent social control and manipulative skills which enable them to blend with the rest of the society, making them that much more dangerous (Hare, …show more content…
The criminal justice system has many objectives which it intends to achieve through various punishments. One such objective is to deter social deviants by threatening them with the possibility of facing harsh punishment to pay for their crimes (Ferris & Stein, 2016). The criminal justice system also achieves retribution by responding to crime by retaliating or revenging the crime. The criminal justice system also incapacitates social deviants so as to protect members of the society through imprisonment or execution in some cases. Additionally, the system also intends to rehabilitate criminals so as to encourage them to refrain from socially deviant