What is Deviance?

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Deviance is defined as actions or behaviors that violate socials norms. In turn the concept of deviance is dependent on the social observation and perception. “By it’s very nature, the constructionism through which people define and interpret actions or appearances is always “social.” ”(Henry, 2009 , p. 6) One’s perception of a situation may be completely different from another depending on cultural and social factors. The way someone talks, walks, dresses, and holds themselves are all factors that attribute to how someone perceives another. In some cases what is socially or normally acceptable to one person is deviant in another’s eyes. For this reason there is a lot of gray area involving the topic of deviance because actions and behaviors are so diversely interpreted.
Through preforming an assessment of elderly spousal loss and coping mechanisms, I was told of a coping/grieving process experienced within some indigenous African societies. An individual whom I’ve come to know is from an African family in which her father was a polygamist. In her culture if the husband of a polygamist family dies, his wives are forced to marry the nearest male relative of husband. In choosing to remarry her husband’s relative, she receives protection and acceptance from her in-laws. If she chooses not to remarry within her husband’s family, she is essentially excommunicated from the people she knows as her family and her community.
Polygamy is considered illegal in the United States, which would make it a deviant practice. That fact is on the bottom burner for me when considering this situation. Forcing someone to theoretically spend the rest of their life with someone not of their choosing is definitely out of the norm in my opinion. On to...

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...nd food. In my opinion bribery is a much bigger issue than how to schmooze a politician.
It is amazing how there are so many different views on what is considered deviant, bad or good. There are so many cultures with different beliefs as to how people should act and that has a huge influence on the perception of deviance in the world today.

Works Cited

Debebe, E. (2013, November 13). Afghan Daily. Afghan Daily. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from http://afghandaily.com

Henry, S. (2009). Social deviance. Cambridge: Polity.

Hruby, D. (2013, November 16). Global Fund Reveals Network Of Bribery in Health Ministry | The Cambodia Daily. Global Fund Reveals Network Of Bribery in Health Ministry | The Cambodia Daily. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/global-fund-reveals-network-of-bribery-in- health- ministry-47124/

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