The concept of social deviance can be understood better by acknowledging that within every society exist a set of unique rules. Social deviation, thus, is acting contrary to socially established norms. Normally deviant behavior is taken as any behavior that is no concurrent with established religious of political establishments within given communities. From a sociological point of view, social deviations are viewed from a wider perspective, like any behavior that contravenes any established norm. Suffice to say that no action is deviant in itself, but every behavior must be interpreted within certain social contexts to determine if it is deviant or not (OUP, 2002).
From a sociological perspective, deviant acts are innumerable. This is because communities create deviant acts by virtue of the fact that they create their own social norms. This means that such behavior, such as prostitution, conman-ship, drug addiction, alcoholism, laziness, homosexuality, child molestation, burglary, are considered as deviant as a heretic, schizophrenia, political radicalism, mental retardation, white color crime among other activities. It is not yet clear whether criminalizing some of these behaviors reduces the chances of occurrences. Some cooperative deviant behaviors such as political violence have been criminalized in some countries. Yet, political violence still erupts within these countries. Suffice to say that some of these behaviors are outrightly criminal. Child molestation drug peddling, burglary are some of the deviant behavior that is outrightly criminal.
Furthermore, societies are faced with a number of ethical issues in relation to social deviance. For instance, a study on the relationship between the existence of an ethical climate and corporate deviance reveals that despite the fact that many corporate bodies have established ethical environments, there is still notable corporate deviance. Such examples include companies as Enron Corp, where massive corruption and financial misappropriation have occurred amidst strong ethical environments. In seeking a solution to such challenges, corporate bodies face ethical challenges to the effect that they instead reward counter norms (unethical behavior) instead of desirable behavior. For instance, companies reward selfishness and punish honesty (Appelbaum, Deguire and Lay, 2007).
Political radicalism is a cooperative deviant behavior. This is because it involves cooperation with other people in its conception, execution, and completion. Political radicalism and violence are conceived and executed along with the neutrality theory. Political deviants deny any responsibility for any wrongdoing on the premise that the authorities they protest against would behave in the same manner if they were in the same situation. In Europe, political deviance began as a nationalistic revolution way back in the nineteenth century. At that time, protestors would plot violence against governments wanting recognition. By the early twentieth century, political deviance had gained new status. They were then claiming separation from the main societies. Such groups include the Ireland Republic Army, among others.
By the late twentieth century, political deviants group had gained international status and were involved in international conflict. They had a political agenda, but since they did not have the means to achieve political goals, they resulted in violence. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, such political deviance had significantly dropped as it was now overshadowed by new forms of social deviation, such as terrorism. The deviant goal of political deviation is separation and disturbance of social order. These acts are illegal and criminal since they use violence to meet their goals. Furthermore, such deviants deny any wrongdoing regardless of the harm their actions cause (OUP, 2002).
Sociologically, a deviant act is any behavior that contravenes socially acceptable norms. As such, deviant behavior is only deviant, depending on the context of the application. Some deviant behaviors can be criminal, while others are not. However, dealing with moral deviation is more of an ethical rather than a legal issue as such authorities need to consider ethical implications of any solutions to deviant acts.
Reference List
Appelbaum, S., Deguire, K. and Lay, M. (2005), The relationship of ethical climate to deviant workplace behavior. Emerald. Web.
OUP. (2002). Crime and Deviance. Web.