In the winter 1993 edition of American Scholar Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) discussed his theory of defining down deviancy. In a grossly over generalized summation, his contention is that we define as deviant behavior that which we have the resources to contain and attempt to control. That which is beyond our resource capacity, we define as tolerable or acceptable. If you take a moment to think back over the past 25 years or so of societal change, you will see that this concept...
