NCJ Number
126249
Editor(s)
R J Kelly,
D E J MacNamara
Date Published
1991
Length
185 pages
Annotation
Originally conceived as a festschrift honoring the late Edward Sagarin, this volume of essays continues the analysis of the study of deviant behavior where Sagarin left off. All the essays raise serious questions for analysis about the nature of deviance and its consequences.
Abstract
The central concerns of the essays are dominance, degradation, and denigration. Dominance implies power and control, while denigration suggests another dimension of power exercised over those whose behavior or lifestyle put them in pariah positions. Their social weaknesses make them vulnerable as targets of abuse, scorn, and discrimination. Several essays explore the workings of people-processing facilities and agencies to examine how such settings deal with clients who have been labeled criminals, mental patients, and spies, and how those clients cope with situations and adapt behaviors to their surroundings. Two other essays look into the special vulnerabilities of certain types of behaviors, such as accused child molesters and AIDS sufferers, and examine the interactional process of becoming deviant and the consequences that emerge. Another essay illustrates how criminogenic structures and activities may actually reinforce each other. Finally, two essays deal directly with deviance theory and its ramifications for other disciplines.