n the basis of some difference, a difference that sets the sub-population apart and that is emphasized by the majority population in identifying the deviant population. Different theories have been offered for why and how the deviant population is identified and marginalized. At any given time, there are deviant conceptions and categories which determine who is and who is not to be identified as deviant according to behavior, status, or some other dimension. Social observers provide acts with meanings and so indicate whether the acts are deviant or nondeviant. At different times, certain behaviors may be removed from the deviant categories and so alter the picture of crime and deviance in society, just as behaviors might be added and accomplish much the same thing. As Thompson and Hickey note,
At least four essential elements are involved in the process of defining deviance: norms, acts, actors, and an audience. Similarly, deviance is relative to time, place, situation, and culture.
Erikson describes the concept of deviance and deviant behavior, which he applies to the Puritans. Erikson defines his terms at the outset, and especially he notes that as a sociologist he looks at these issues in a different way:
Behavior which looks abnormal to the psychiatrist or the judge. . . does not always look abnormal through the special lens of the sociologist; and thus students of the new science should be careful to understand that even the most aberrant forms of individual behavior may still be considered normal from this broader point of view.
One of the interesting aspects of the sociology of deviance, as Erikson notes, is that the deviant behavior can itself contribute to a sense of belonging and a sense of community among a certain population in two ways--it can create a bond between those who exhibit the deviant behavior, and it creates a strong bond among those who oppose that behavior:
The deviant act, then, cre...