and Design, Halifax, N.S.

Deviance, as a phenomenon of research exploration and social manipulation, has never been the exclusive property of sociology; other social sciences and various corrective agencies share sociology's interest in the topic. That the concern with deviance crosses disciplinary limits should not surprise us in as much as deviance "is inextricably bound up with the social order of which it is a part, and... one cannot speak about it in a meaningful way without also considering social order " (Scott 1972:17). Any discipline or agency which deals with social order must acknowledge social disorder and deviance. Deviance, which Prus (1983:8) defines as actions or qualities deemed "offensive, disturbing, threatening, or disrespectable" to some group, serves to define the normal in human behaviour, perhaps more so than an understanding of the normal defines deviance. Appreciation of the ability of deviant activit