Deviance has changed its definition throughout history. In the Victorian period divorce was generally strongly disapproved of and virtually impossible to obtain except by the wealthy few. In contempary Britain, divorce has become so common that the stigma attached to it has inevitably diminished greatly and we would not normally consider divorced people
Deviant. (O’Donnell, 1981 )
The location in which an act takes place can define it as acceptable or deviant, for example, if a woman was on holiday in Spain, it would be perfectly acceptable for her to be topless, however if the same woman was on holiday in Southport, even if it was a hot day, it would be deemed as deviant, and her actions would be frowned upon.
Any activity can be seen as normal in a particular society, for example, human sacrifice, repugnant in modern societies, has been seen not only as a normal activity, but as an honour for the individual sacrificed. (Lewson, 1994)
In modern Britain, much of the behaviour we display is normal to us, but it may be deviant to others across the globe. For example, women here may dress in mini skirts and vest tops when it is arm showing of much flesh, this would be unacceptable and deviant for Arabic women, who have to cover their flesh at all times in public. Also, in modern Britain it would be unacceptable for a thirteen-year-old girl to dress scantily and do a provocative dance for the men in the neighbourhood, however, it is a part of an African tribes lifestyle.
Today, we have an elected government, chosen by the people, who accept the policies of that party. This was not always the case. The laws that were passed did not always represent the views of the people, just the views of the government. Witchcraft was a major issue in the 16th and 17th century, to be a witch was not a crime, but to use these powers to cause harm to other people and their livelihood was. About four hundred people were actually killed in Britain for witchcraft, thankfully the crime of witchcraft died out in the 18th century.
As old crimes are dropped, new ones arise, such as car crime; you cannot have car crime if there are no cars, so new laws are introduced to deal with this problem. Another type of criminal in the 16th and 17th century was a vagabond. People believed it was the beggars fault they were unemployed and homeless, they were tied to the end of a cart, naked, and beaten with whips until their body was bloody, because people believed they would steal. Can you imagine that type of attitude today? Most people are given a home to live in and money to live off by the government these days. (- accessed 30.10.2004)
There are many more examples of how crimes and deviant acts differ culturally and historically that there is no scope to cover here. Any one act cannot be defined as a crime or a deviant act and be universally acceptable. To break a persons nose is not deviant if you are a plastic surgeon but it is if you are in a pub brawl. To kill a man is not always a crime, if you a a soldier defending your country, it is honourable. To divorce is not deviant now, however if you lived in Victorian Britain it would be.
