ABSTRACT
Deviance as opposed to concrete forms of behavior like drug use or homosexuality is a creation of the public imagination. The act's deviant character lies in the way it is defined in the public mind. The public definition of an act as deviant has drastic consequences for the person who commits it. Though some of the relations between deviants and respectable society characteristic of an earlier era can still be found, much has changed. The component of the change is an increasing tolerance of deviance by respectable society. The various kinds of popular philosophical positions—the Eastern philosophies and psychological doctrines of self-development—have brought some people to see the means of salvation in what were formerly thought to be deviant practices. The newly organized deviant groups are making use of the potential for revolutionary change contained in cultural emphasis on egalitarianism and legal emphasis on due process.
