NCJ Number
164476
Date Published
1994
Length
542 pages
Annotation
This text uses a social-historical perspective to describe and analyze the theory, methods, and control policies associated with nine major ways of conceiving deviant behavior.
Abstract
The theoretical images examined span a variety of religious, legal, medical, psychological, social, economic, and political concerns. The nine theoretical perspectives of deviance discussed are the demonic perspective (deviance as rooted in metaphysical causes); the classical perspective (deviance as rational hedonism); the pathological perspective (deviance as sickness); the social disorganization perspective (rapid change and normative breakdown); the functionalist perspective (deviance as beneficial); the anomie perspective (normlessness and inequality); the learning perspective (acquiring deviance in association with others); the societal reaction perspective (social construction of deviance); and critical perspectives. The book describes the basic theoretical imagery, research strategies, and social control policies associated with the perspective, and it locates the perspective within a general socio-historical framework. It further develops a sense of critical evaluative thinking regarding the perspective's strengths and weaknesses. Each perspective is viewed from historically specific standpoints. They embody the reasoning of particular authors within contradictory and often politically charged social contexts. The examination of the social contexts in which theories about deviance are produced and used focuses on the disciplinary character of various perspectives and the relationship between each theoretical framework and social power. Chapter notes and a subject index