Formal law encompasses deviant behaviour such as verbal assault and public nuisance, as there are no written laws regarding these actions, only statutes and formal opinions that can be brought up in a court of law. For example, murder and sexual assault come under empirical law, as they can be formally charged by a judge operating under written law.
Some deviant behaviours fit into all three. But there are different types of laws enforced regarding deviance: empirical law, formal law and enforced law (Edwards 2006-2007). In addition, this provides an example of a country who go to war to defend their country, and their enemies who view their actions as deviant and in turn react with actions considered deviant by the other country. Extremely deviant activities, such as murder, are always frowned upon by society except for in the case of war. Members of these social movements attempt to make their opinions legitimately recognized both legally and politically (Pontell 2004).Ĭriminal deviance is most certainly not in the eye of the beholder. Examples of this “social fight” include the anti-abortion movement, euthenasia, the Creationist movement and animal rights groups. Many individuals, groups of people, organisations and political parties all vie for control over the institutional definition of what does and does not classify as deviant behaviour in correlation with the moral, political, religious and/or social stances of these organisations. This goes further into the individual level, where one person may see something as deviant while another may not. The variety of cultures, traditions and environments incorporating both in the world means that any deviant behaviour in one society may not be deviant in another, but that other society's deviance may be the norm for another society. The phrase “Deviance is in the eye of the beholder” means that something which is deviant to one person may not be deviant to another. Because criminally deviant behaviours and actions are handled by a court of law or a court-approved forensic mental health expert, non-criminal deviant behaviours are not given enough attention and are sometimes stereotyped with criminal behaviour. The problem with this definition is that it does not differentiate in a psychological sense between criminal and non-criminal deviant behaviour. But there must be a line drawn between criminal deviance and non-criminal deviance, and the primary characteristics that define both.
Deviance as a whole affects society, but the individuals who make up that society, according to their various cultural and social backgrounds, can also interpret it morally (Goode 1994 – 2008) Therefore, deviance is a very subjective topic to study. Deviance can be defined both collectively and individually. Discuss.”ĭeviance is any act which deviates from any number of different social, moral and cultural norms.
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