Do you think crime and deviance are socially-constructed and relative concepts?
Very definitely socially constructed. Even within a single country, and single time, different subgroups may consider certain actions as “normal” while others outside that group may consider the activity as deviant. A good illustration of this is what young people consider to be ‘ok’ and not ‘ok’ compared with what older people think. Variation geographically, variation between classes, between cultural groups (tribal, religious etc) and variation in time within such groups all show variation in what is considered normal, and what has a strong taboo. Put a little simplistically ‘Law’ represents a codification of acceptable and taboo behaviours. It usually reflects a combination of tradition and the interests and views of the dominant social groupings within a society. So the powerful have more influence in deciding what is proscribed and approved than the less powerful. Read a little of Foucault on that particular point. While it may be argued that killing, theft, rape etc are commonly
