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SOCIAL DEVIANCE - PERSPECTIVES AND PROSPECTS

NCJ Number
64591
Author(s)
C S SUCHAR
Date Published
1978
Length
303 pages
Annotation
A SOCIOLOGIST TRACES THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT ON SOCIAL DEVIANCE, WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO EMERGING SUBJECTIVIST PERSPECTIVES.
Abstract
THE BOOK REVIEWS THE ADVANTAGES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF THE LABELING APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF DEVIANCE AND TRACES THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONTENDING PERSPECTIVES IN THE FIELD. SOCIOLOGISTS WHOSE WORKS ARE DESCRIBED AND EXAMINED IN THIS VOLUME INCLUDE BECKER, CICOUREL, GIBBS, GOVE, HIRSCHI, LEMERT, MATZA, MCHUGH, AND DURKHEIM. SOCIAL PATHOLOGY IS EXAMINED, AND DURKHEIM'S INFLUENCE ON OTHER SCHOLARS IN THIS AREA IS EXAMINED. CAUSAL THEORIES OF PREDISPOSITION ARE VIEWED FROM A PRESOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, TOUCHING ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND DEMONIC POSSESSION, THE MEDICAL MODEL, CRIMINOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY (THE ITALIAN SCHOOL), AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY CONCEPTIONS. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF PREDISPOSITION INCLUDE ECOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC THEORIES, THE AMERICAN STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALIST APPROACH, AND THE SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY. THE VOLUME ALSO COVERS THEORIES OF ACTUALIZATION, EMPHASIZING SUBJECTIVIST SOCIOLOGY; LABELING OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR (THE NEOSOCIETAL-REACTION PERSPECTIVE); THE SOCIOLOGICAL REACTION TO LABELING, NOTING POLITICAL-IDEOLOGICAL CRITIQUES; AND THE ACTUALIZATION OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AND DEVIANCE, ILLUSTRATED BY THE INSTITUTIONAL REACTION TO THE MENTALLY ILL. SELECTED READINGS, AN INDEX, A BIBLIOGRAPHY, FOOTNOTES, CHARTS, AND ACTUAL CASE HISTORIES ARE INCLUDED. (WJR)

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