Unit 4 Individual Project
William Stuerman
Sanford Brown College
June 2013

Deviance is a societal concept that differs from culture to culture just like all other societal norms. Social norms change in every culture. Each culture has its own habits, behaviors theat society adheres to from things like facial expression to body language to the distance between people when they speak, how direct or polite people are when they together. Things like touching, and eye contact are also things that change between different cultures. Deviance is defined is any behavior that violates a societies norms (Johnson, Markwell, and Okafor, 2012). Deviant behavior here in the United States could mean standing too close to someone while talking to them, in China it could mean shaking hands in a business situation which would be normal in our society. Deviant behavior that also breaks laws is called committing a crime. Sociologists all have different conclusions on who defines deviance. There is one theory, called the differential association theory which focuses on how people learn deviance. One sociologist says that the groups that with which an individual associates influence him or her to deviate from or conform to social norms. This theory basically says that if someone associates themselves with people that commit crimes that they will see this as a social norm and commit crimes too. Other sociologists focus on a different theory called the labeling theory. This theory addresses the importance of labels that society puts on things. People learn socities labels for things as they grow up hearing them and those labels and generalizations and symbols become true for them. By labeling someone as a deviant or a criminal, those in power help to shape that persons self image and they see themselves as a deviant or a criminal. According to Johson, Markwell, and Okafor (2012), secondary deviance involves deviant behavior that continues even though there are negative reinforcements such as negative reactions and negative labels – this person accepts the label of deviance as part of their self- image. Piercings are an example of deviant behavior. While many people have a piercing or two, like children that get their ears pierced, other kinds of piercings are against societal norms. Piercings like facial piercings, ear plugs, and piercings on other parts of the body aren’t acceptable. These kinds of piercings have to be covered up or the piercing removed in public places such as work environments and people with these kinds of piercings aren’t traditionally seen as very professional. A person can’t be seen in court, or at work, or in a professional role with visible piercings. Many workplaces have rules against things like gauges in the ears and any kind of studs in the face. If a behavior is unacceptable to be on display in all environments then it must be deviant. This behavior is outside the standards of conduct for society because people label people with piercings. A lot of