a definition of deviance, from my blue book years back~

"Deviance is problematic, yet essential and intrinsic to any conception of social order."

Q: Why?

Deviance is problematic such that it gives the society a dilemma on how deviance could be prevented, where it came from and why it emerged. It imposes problems such that it endangers the lives of other people (e.g victims of murders, offended people of juvenile delinquents). It is problematic such that it destroys the peace, harmony and the organization of societies. But it is essential to all societies since it celebrates diversity and often lead to a different way of looking at the world. Deviance helps in the society with its (hidden) functions such as provision of jobs for the prevention of deviance, assumption of a sense of identity and individuality, affirmation of cultural norms and values, promotion of social unity, encouragement of social change and clarification of moral boundaries. All this advantages and disadvantages brought by deviance helps in the birth of a society's social order.

We can view this in the following example. Juvenile delinquents are considered deviants and therefore a problem to a society. They imply problem since the offend a party of the population yet they are helpful to social workers, lawyers, and other professions since they are the reasons for providing jobs for such profession. The deviant act also gives a unique identity for the delinquent youth, may it be due to conformity to his friends or the gang he/she belongs to. The deviant behavior also affirms the cultural norm of youth as those who are in school, who studies well and who helps in the development of society in little ways. It promotes social unity since the juvenile delinquents feel belongingness with each other. It may also be viewed as those people working for the prevention of juvenile delinquency being unified in such a goal. It encourages social change since it allows the practitioners to analyze the problems from its roots thus involve solutions such as the alleviation of poverty, advocacy for child betterment, etc. Juvenile delinquency clarifies moral boundaries since it views the deviant act as immoral and those who aren't considered deviant as moral. Juvenile delinquency may be problematic yet is essential to the society in some other way; just like deviance.

~February 13, 2007. Midterm Exam in Social Work 123 (Deviance).

As I read upon it, I never thought I could answer questions backed substantially by theories like that. :) or maybe it was just that exam. teehee~