“Facial Tattoos and Piercings” 
be, the Golden Girls, which seems odd for someone in their early thirties. Perhaps someone thinks it is 
utter nonsense and ‘crazy’ wasting my time watching such shows. These are just a few examples where my 
behavior, thoughts, actions, or beliefs may be different from those around me. 
From a sociological perspective, social norms are all around us and are accepted norms and behaviors 
that defined within a specific group. The group you are in can change, which would mean the norms and 
behaviors that are acceptable at any given time may change. 
1 
Deviance is behavior that departs from the social norm. Goode argues 
that four things must happen in order for something deviant to take place 
or exist: 
1) a rule or norm must be established; 2) someone has to violate that 
rule or norm; 3) there must be an audience or someone, that witnesses 
the act and judges it to be wrong; 4) and there is likely going to be a 
negative reaction from that audience that can come in many forms (i.e., 
criticism, disapproval, punishment, and more). 
To commit an act of deviance one does not need to violate a 
dangerous norm, and not all acts that are deviant are criminal. Not all 
criminal acts are deviant either. Deviance falls on a spectrum that can 
range from really deviant to not so deviant but remember it is dependent 
on the audience. Think back to the previous comment about the show 
Golden Girls. My grandma would not find that as deviant as my husband 
does because we grew up watching it together. We spent many hours on 
the couch laughing away at the silliness of it all, so we would both agree 
it is a beautiful show. 
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Applying Knowledge 
 Assignment: Apply Goode’s definition of what needs to happen in order for something to be considered deviant 
in no less than 500 words and following the example below. 
Example: The awkward outfit to the gym: knee socks, athletic shorts, and an oversized Broncos t-shirt 
mentioned above could be deviant. Based on Goode’s definition of deviance, this attire departed from the social 
norm at the gym in 2018. Whether we realize it or not some specific rules or norms established in the gym (1); 
sometimes we have a dress code, but other times, you have to keep up with current ‘hip trends’ such as yoga pants 
for women in 2018. Next, I violated that norm by my attire (2); since it was a busy Monday night lots of people 
saw my attire, my audience, that was able to witness my act and then judge it (3). Lastly, they cannot kick me out 
for not dressing cool, but the awkward smirks, stares, and giggles were all I needed to know that my clothes were 
deviant and not cool (4). This could certainly have not been true in 1950, 1980, or even early 2000s. If I think back 
to when I started lifting over a decade ago, yoga pants were unheard of and no one wore anything ‘tight’ to the 
gym. Today yoga pants are regular and in some parts of the country for women and men. 
1. By Tuerto - [1], CC by-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26526042 
2. Goode, E. (2015). Deviant Behavior, (10th ed.). New York: Pearson, Education. 
Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
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