01:920:101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Counterculture
Document Summary
Members of the mafia commit crimes in order to: (a) terrorize other citizens (b) become respectable members of society (c) extort money (d) destroy communities and the government. Norms are principles or rules that people are expected to observe; they represent the. We are all rule breakers as well as conformists. The study of deviant behavior reveals that none of us are normal as we think. Deviance may be defined as nonconformity to a set of norms that a significant number of people in a community or society accept. Although most of us associate the word deviant with behaviors that we view as dangerous or unsavory, assessments of deviance are truly in the eye of the beholder. Deviance does not refer only to individual behavior; it concerns the activities of groups as well. A deviant subculture is a group whose beliefs and practices differ from others in their society; the norm.