Deviance:

In sociology, deviance describes an action or behavior that violates social norms, including a

formally enacted rule (e.g., crime), as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting
folkways and mores). Deviance is a behavioral disposition that is not in conformity with an
institutionalized set-up or code of conduct. Although deviance may have a negative connotation, the
violation of social norms is not always a negative action; positive deviation exists in some situations.
Although a norm is violated, a behavior can still be classified as positive or acceptable.
Social norms differ throughout society and between cultures. A certain act or behavior may be
viewed as deviant and receive sanctions or punishments within one society and be seen as a
normal behavior in another society. Additionally, as a society's understanding of social norms
changes over time, so to does the collective perception of deviance.
Deviance is relative to the place where it was committed or to the time the act took place. Killing
another human is generally considered wrong for example, except when governments permit it
during warfare or for self-defense.
Deviance may be either positive or negative.
Negative deviance involves behavior that fails to meet accepted norms. People expressing negative
deviance rejects the norms, misinterpret the norms, or are unaware of the norms.

Positive deviance involves over conformity to norms. Positive deviants idealize group norms. Positive
deviance can be as disruptive and hard to manage as negative deviance.

Types of Deviances

Video Games and Deviance

Another area of current research that is of great interest to many people is the alleged effects of
violent video games on behavior. Karen Sternheimer explains that a lot of the concern around
video games is illustrative of the social construction of deviance. According to Sternheimer,
"Politicians and other moral crusaders frequently create "folk devils," individuals or groups
defined as evil and immoral. Folk devils allow us to channel our blame and fear, offering a clear
course of action to remedy what many believe to be a growing problem. Video games, those
who play them, and those who create them have become contemporary folk devils because
they seem to pose a threat to children." (p. 13) The assumption is that playing violent video
games will lead children to act out violently. However, there is a growing body of literature that is
either inconclusive on this issue or that contradicts this assumption: it does not appear as
though playing violent video games results in violent behavior.
The reason why the assumption that playing violent video games is not accurate is because it
decontextualizes violence. Those who claim violent video games lead to violence fail to realize that
violence is context dependent and most players of video games are fully aware of this. Individuals
who play video games recognize that violence in the context of the game is okay and that it is not
okay to be violent outside of that context. Additionally, many of the studies that have claimed to
have found a connection between playing video games and violent behavior have failed to control
for other influences on violent individuals, influences that are more likely to translate into violent
behavior: neighborhood violence and instability, family violence, and even mental illness. Seldom is
a connection made between adult shooting sprees in the workplace (which are far more common
than school shooting sprees and video games. Instead, people look toward contextual influences
like those described above (i.e., job loss, family problems, etc.). In other words, violent video games
are the folk devils for violent behavior in children, but not for adults.
Finally, the video game explanation is also illustrative of social-conflict and racial discrimination.
Seldom is the explanation of a black violent offender's behavior playing violent video games. The
assumption is that black culture encourages violence; as a result, violent behavior by young black
men is not "shocking," so it does not require a folk devil to explain it. This is, of course,
discriminatory. In contrast, it is generally white, middle-class violent offenders whose behavior is
explained by alleging a video game connection. The fact that these violent offenders are white and
middle class threatens the "innocence and safety of suburban America, which means it requires a
folk devil culprit, absolving white, middle-class America of the blame.