In modern social practices, there is clearly a mismatch between the attractor and the real normative system of the civil service, ideal and real norms of behavior. The author of the article makes an attempt to reveal the essence of the determinants of deviations in the professional activities of civil servants by studying the general essential and causal complex of deviations among individuals, small and large social groups. The article provides a classification and levels of deviations in public service. The article will be useful to representatives of state and municipal government, as well as researchers dealing with issues of administrative anomalies.