NCJ Number
154067
Editor(s)
A E Liska
Date Published
1992
Length
243 pages
Annotation
This book explores the conflict theory of social control, particularly the threat hypothesis, and asserts that deviance and crime control are responses to social threats, such as criminal acts and riots, and to people who are perceived as threatening, such as minorities and the unemployed.
Abstract
The authors use the threat hypothesis to organize the diverse literature on social control, employ new data to resolve crucial issues, and integrate current perspectives to develop the threat proposition. They analyze patterns of deviance and crime control that include fatal or lethal controls, such as State executions and lynchings; physical restraints, such as imprisonment; and beneficent controls, such as mental hospitalization and welfare. The concept and historical development of social control and the expansion of crime control bureaucracies during the 1960's through the 1980's are discussed. The focus then turns to the three major theoretical aspects of social control--economic, structural-functional, and conflict perspectives. The social organization of deviance and crime control is examined, particularly with respect to white and nonwhite groups. References, notes, tables, and figures