Deviance

![CDATA[The study of deviant behavior, although now partially obscured by the relentless expansion of criminology, remains central to the discipline of sociology due to its wider, more flexible range and its ability to focus on activity that may transgress criminology, penology, anthropology, psychology, and human geography, it retains a distinctive edge by using a range of predominantly qualitative methods and theoretical tools such as social interactionism, social constructivism, and phenomenology. These methods are used to highlight the artificial distinction between honest and dishonest, legal and illegal, as well as the manner in which deviant behavior is socially constructed, which are consequently integral to the normative order. The tendency of scholars of deviance is to be committed to observation and interaction, with their central principle being that deviance is normal, unremarkable, and essentially a product of human interaction rather than a pathological state of being.]]