ABSTRACT
This examination of parents who are labelled deviant lays bare the cultural values of current western society and acts as a barometer of how those values have been shifting in recent times. What quickly becomes apparent when these groups are put side by side is that they are labelled on the basis of a single trait which is not the most significant one in relation to their parenting behaviours but which often becomes the main axis around which all assessment revolves. The arguments against most of them come down to the notions that both society and their children will suffer because a) the parents show a particular deviant trait, and b) they might become dependent on the state.
