ABSTRACT
Thus far, we have seen that societies cannot exist without norms, values, and laws (as explained in Chapter 3). In exactly the same way and for the same reasons, societies cannot exist without deviance. For deviance refers simply to behavior that departs from what the majority of a community or society considers to be “normal”—that is, in line with norms (prescribed forms of behavior). In short, norms, values, laws, deviance, and social control are all part and parcel of the same phenomenon—the systems of meaning and institutions that define and maintain society's moral and social boundaries. The “Thou shalt nots” in religious terms, the everyday “dos and don'ts” in secular terms, and the laws and law enforcement in institutional terms, all dictate what individuals both shall and shall not do. And people do both.
