Deviance and Society in Ontario Canada Deviance is a condition or state in human beings that is marked different from the norm. Norms are expectations and rules guiding the members of a community. Deviance gears at failing at conforming to the social norms. Research indicates that social norms are different in different cultures (Goode, 2004). There are no standards in the deviance among communities along what may be considered normal in one community is deviance in another community. Sociologists argue that deviance is human traits display exceeding the community tolerance limit. It has been noted that deviance can be a reactive construction. Theories identified with deviance are; structural functionalism theory, Merton’s strain theory, Neutralization theory, labeling theory, control theory and conflict theory (Macionis, 2011).