Deviance

Deviance is a term used by society to define behaviors that differ from the everyday social norm, this means that majority of people in a society must agree or conform to a certain action or behavior. In 1906, William Sumner came up with the concept to categorize "norm" into three different groups: folkways, mores, and laws. He defines 'folkway' as the simple day-to-day norm which was based on customs, traditions and mannerisms. If one were not to follow the way of 'folkway norm' it would probably cause others to believe that they are strange or abnormal but would not cause fury. Typical 'folkway norms' include style of dressing, character, physical distance or closeness with others, and eating patterns. Moving on, 'mores' are norms which reflect wide-ranging social ethics. Interracial marriage, having an illegitimate child, and abusing drugs and alcohol would violate the 'mores' laws and would cause a havoc and produce more serious social denunciation. Being in an interracial marriage may make one seem racially impure, bearing an illegitimate child can threaten social definition of a marriage, and abusing or being addicted to drugs and alcohol shows victory of hedonism over prudence. Those who don't comply with 'mores norm' may seem sinful, and set themselves up as a potential threat to society. Furthermore, the 'laws norm' is the strongest custom out of the other two norms. This is because it is backed up by codified social approval. Those who infringe this norm are punished in ways ranging from a fine to imprisonment. Although one may break laws and regulations, it wouldn't necessarily label the offender as deviant. With this said, deviance and crime can respectively fall into one category. Consider this, if certain individual decides to burglarize or vandalize someone's property, or even causing harm to another being, it considered both deviant and a crime. Also, there are many other deviant acts that are not considered criminal, such as being over or underweight, being physically or mentally handicapped, being in an interracial marriage, and having an illegitimate child. To restate a prior point, these can be considered deviant because although it is not considered a crime, it violates the norm accepted by society. With that said, we can consider crime and deviance as overlapping categorizes with its own individual magnitudes. Attitude, behavior, and condition are the ABC's of deviance. People may be labeled deviant based on their attitudes or belief system which includes religion, political views and beliefs in the supernatural. Having a mental sickness can also fall into the deviant category. The 'B' in the deviant ABC's stands for behavior which people are the most familiar with. Deviant behavior can happen intentionally or unintentionally, for example, one might unintentionally violate a dress-code, or a couple may intentionally