It is the responsibility of sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and criminologists to study how these norms are generated, how they transmute over time and how they are applied. Norms are rules and perspectives by which members of society are conventionally guided. Deviance is a lack of conformity to these norms. Herd norms differ from culture to culture. For example, a deviant act may be committed in one society that violates a herd norm, but may be commonplace in another..