1. DEVIANCE IS SOCIALLY CREATED
-----a. deviance is behavior that does not conform to social expectations...outside the "range of tolerance"
-----b. Sociologists are interested in who and how does it affect
2. DEVIANCE IS RELATIVE, NOT AN ABSOLUTE, NOTION
-----a. deviance is not inherent in any particular kind of behavior
-----b. evidence of relativity is found in the wide variation of definitions of society to society and from one historical period to another
3. DEVIANCE IS AN INTEGRAL AND NORMAL PART OF ALL SOCIETIES
-----a. According to Durkheim, labeling others as deviant offers non-deviants a sense of solidarity
-----b. Deviance provides impetus for innovation and social change
4. DEVIANCE IS DETERMINED BY WHOEVER HOLDS POWER
-----a. certain social groups have greater power and resources than others in getting their definition of deviance to prevail
-----b. Religion influences definitions
-----c. "master status" is that which defines one status as dominating another in an interaction
5. VIOLATORS OF IMPORTANT SOCIAL NORMS ARE STIGMATIZED
-----a. deviants are set apart from so-called normals by being socially disgraced
-----b. The church, medical community, the law, and society stigmatizes
-----c. the societal/community reaction to "differences" has distinct consequences to the "different"
