Answer to Question #284098 in Sociology for Harry

Question

What norms are operating in your classroom, dorm, or apartment? What negative sanctions have you observed when these norms have been violated?

Answer 1

Formal Deviance: Deviance, in a sociological context, describes actions or behaviors that violate social norms, including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime), as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores).

Negative sanctions are punishments for violating norms. Being arrested is a punishment for shoplifting. Both types of sanctions play a role in social control. Sociologists also classify sanctions as formal or informal. Negative sanctions are actual or threatened punishments.

Examples of negative sanctions include the following: refusing to export (embargoes), refusing to import (boycotts) and covert refusals to trade (blacklists) among others.