The quality or state of being deviant; departure from accepted norms, standards, or expected behavior.
From deviant + -cy suffix. Deviant comes from Latin deviare, originally meaning to leave the road or path; the -cy suffix creates an abstract noun.
In the 1960s, sociologist Howard Becker wrote about 'deviance' and changed how we think about rule-breaking—he showed that deviance isn't inherent to an act but created by society's response to it. A deviant isn't born; society makes one.
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