Explain the concept and provide several examples as illustrations.
Deviance is the straying from established social norms. A person who selects not to conform to social norms but actually lives outside of those norms (deviates from those norms) is labeled the deviant. (Bartle, 2007) Therefore a deviant is not necessarily someone who is evil or even wrong, he/she simply chooses not to conform to societal standards of right and wrong. It is possible that the deviant is "right" and society is "wrong". For example, during Hitler's reign over Nazi Germany there were deviants who chose not to follow Hitler but actively tried to assassinate him. Jesus was viewed as a deviant by the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders of his day. He did not observe the Sabbath as their tradition required, he claimed to be the Son of God and claimed equality of God which resulted in the Pharisees charging him with blasphemy. The textbook example is Galileo who claimed that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way around. This was in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Galileo was considered a deviant and was forced to recant his beliefs in order to avoid torture and possibly death. (Henderson, 1999)