deviance

Any behaviour which is regarded as contrary to ‘normal’ or expected standards of social behaviour, which may or may not be contrary to the law. Within criminology, deviance theory claims that what is deviant is ‘in the eye of the beholder’ because no act is in itself inherently or obviously criminal. Behaviour is judged according to the context in which it occurs; the same action regarded as deviant in one situation may be acceptable in another. Conceptions of deviance therefore vary from one culture to another.

Deviance can refer to any of several topics, including:

Deviant behavior in social sciences statistical deviance—see deviance (statistics) DEViANCE, a known warez group

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title.