As we discussed in Chapter 2, people do not enforce folkways strictly, but they become upset when people break mores (pronounced MO-rays). Expressions of disapproval for deviance, called negative sanctions, range from frowns and gossip for breaking folkways to imprisonment and death for violating mores.
In general, the more seriously the group takes a norm, the harsher the penalty for violating it. In contrast, positive sanctions—from smiles to formal awards—are used to reward people for conforming to norms.
Getting a raise is a positive sanction; being fired is a negative sanction.
Getting an A in Intro to Sociology is a positive sanction; getting an F is a negative one.
Most negative sanctions are informal.
You might stare if you observe someone dressed in what you consider to be inappropriate clothing, or you might gossip if a married person you know spends the night with someone other than his or her spouse.
Whether you consider the breaking of a norm an amusing matter that warrants no sanction or a serious infraction that does, however, depends on your perspective.
Let’s suppose that a woman appears at your college graduation in a bikini. You might stare, laugh, and nudge the person next to you. If this is your mother, however, you are likely to feel that different sanctions are appropriate.
Similarly, if it is your father who spends the night with an 18-year-old college freshman, you are likely to do more than gossip.
In Sum In sociology, the term deviance refers to all violations of social rules, regardless of their seriousness. The term is neutral, not a judgment about the behavior.
Deviance is so relative that what is deviant in one group may be conformist in another. Because of this, we must consider deviance from within a group’s own framework: It is their meanings that underlie their behavior.
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