Primary deviance is the first stage in a theory of deviant identity formation. Lemert (1967) conceptualized primary deviance as engaging in the initial act of deviance. This is very common throughout society, as everyone takes part in basic norm violation. Primary deviance does not result in a person internalizing a deviant identity, so one does not alter their self-concept to include this deviant identity. It is not until the act becomes labeled or tagged, that secondary deviation may materialize.
Famous quotes containing the words primary and/or deviance:
“But the doctrine of the Farm is merely this, that every man ought to stand in primary relations to the work of the world, ought to do it himself, and not to suffer the accident of his having a purse in his pocket, or his having been bred to some dishonorable and injurious craft, to sever him from those duties.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Philosophically, incest asks a fundamental question of our shifting mores: not simply what is normal and what is deviant, but whether such a thing as deviance exists at all in human relationships if they seem satisfactory to those who share them.”
—Elizabeth Janeway (b. 1913)