What Is Deviant Behavior?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Deviance is a

sociological concept referring to behaviors that violate social rules and norms

. Behavior that is perceived as socially deviant is highly stigmatized, which often causes as many or more problems for the person engaging in the behavior than the addiction itself — if there even is an addiction.

What is the meaning of deviant behavior?

A deviant is

someone whose behavior falls far outside of society’s norms

; as an adjective, deviant can describe the behavior itself. For example, a fifty-year-old punk rocker has a deviant appearance, compared to his peers. That aging punk deviates, or departs from the norm, of people his age.

What are some examples of deviant behaviors?


Adult content consumption, drug use, excessive drinking, illegal hunting, eating disorders

, or any self-harming or addictive practice are all examples of deviant behaviors.

What are the 5 types of deviant behavior?

According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria:

conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion

.

What causes deviant behavior?

Norms of good conduct forbid man from wrong doings. Delinquency is hated by the one who acts upon the norms of these religious teachings. Failure to seek religious education paves way toward delinquency. …

Failure of religious and moral values

is the main cause of deviant behavior and delinquency.

What are the 4 types of deviance?

According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria:

conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion

. Structural functionalism argues that deviant behavior plays an active, constructive role in society by ultimately helping cohere different populations within a society.

What are the 2 types of deviance?

Types. The violation of norms can be categorized as two forms,

formal deviance and informal deviance

. Formal deviance can be described as a crime, which violates laws in a society. Informal deviance are minor violations that break unwritten rules of social life.

How do you deal with deviant behavior?

There are four basic different ways that a society can react:

deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation

. Deterrence, or more commonly known as punishment, is providing a negative consequence to a particular deviant action to discourage people from doing the deviant action.

How do you identify deviant behavior?

  1. Deviant behavior may violate formally-enacted rules or informal social norms.
  2. Formal deviance includes criminal violation of formally-enacted laws. …
  3. Informal deviance refers to violations of informal social norms, which are norms that have not been codified into law.

What is an example of negative deviance?

Deviant behavior that diverges from societal norms can be called “social deviance.” An example of negative deviance would be

adopting a style of dress of which the general public disapproves, such as the “goth” style of dress

. In the 1990s, such attire was deeply stigmatized by a leery public.

What are three behaviors that are deviant but not criminal?

An act can be deviant but not criminal i.e.

breaking social, but not legal, rules

. Examples, of this include acts that are seen as deviant when they occur in a certain context, such as a male manager wearing a dress to the office or someone talking loudly in the middle of a concert.

How deviance can be positive?

Positive Deviance (PD) is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to

problems

than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges.

What are the three explanations of deviance?

Starting from these basic assumptions, psychological explanations of deviant behavior come mainly from three theories:

psychoanalytic theory, cognitive development theory, and learning theory

.

How can we prevent deviance?

The most effective possible

social control system

would be one that prevents deviance from arising at all. It could prevent deviant acts from occurring in the first place (primary prevention) or, if they have occurred in the past, prevent their reoccurrence (secondary prevention).

What are the characteristics of deviance?

Merton typology of deviance was based on two criteria: (1)

a person’s motivations or adherence to cultural goals

; (2) a person’s belief in how to attain her goals. According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.

What are the elements of deviance?

  • Deviation is relative, not absolute: In this sense, most people are deviant to some degree. …
  • Deviance refers to norm violation: There are wide range of norms—religious norms, legal norms, health norms, cultural norms and so forth. …
  • Deviance is also viewed as a ‘stigma construct’:
Emily Lee
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Emily Lee
Emily Lee is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. She’s an accomplished writer with a deep passion for the arts, and brings a unique perspective to the world of entertainment. Emily has written about art, entertainment, and pop culture.