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Sociology / Unit 5   Soc 0653 short lesson, about 20 seconds

Deviance Is Relative

Captions available

The idea

Whether an act is deviant depends on the society, the setting, and the moment, because the norm supplying the judgment varies across all three.

In practice

The same act is unremarkable at home, deviant at work, and criminal in a third country.

Where people slip

Relativity of definition is not relativity of consequence — the sanction is real either way.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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