NCJ Number
122342
Date Published
1990
Length
348 pages
Annotation
This analysis of deviance focuses on theoretical explanations and the role of political factors in four case studies: a moral panic regarding drug abuse in Israel in 1982, social policies regarding drug abuse in Israel and the United States, the introduction of radio astronomy as an alternative to conventional science, and the career of a controversial Israeli government official.
Abstract
The discussion emphasizes that society is not a single moral entity whose members share the same definition of deviance and respectability, but several entities whose members explain their standards in ways that are often incompatible. It also focuses on the interactions among individuals, institutions, and society with respect to deviant behavior. Thus, it argues that deviance should be analyzed as a relative phenomenon that occurs in different and changing cultures. In addition, the legitimization of power should be considered in terms of a moral order that in turn defines the societal boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. The discussion uses Mills's concept of motivational accounting systems to show how the individual and societal levels of analysis can be integrated. Index, notes, and approximately 600 references.