Sociology: understanding a diverse society - Andersen & Taylor

Deviance

Those with the power to define deviance exert the most social control. Social control agents are people such as police and mental health workers who regulate and administer the response to deviance. Members of powerless groups may be defined as deviant for even the slightest infraction against social norms, whereas members of other groups may be free to behave in deviant ways without consequence. Oppressed groups have a greater likelihood of being labeled deviant and incarcerated or institutionalized, whether or not they have committed a deviant offense.