Deviant Behavior provides a comprehensive study of the behavior, beliefs, conditions, and reactions to deviance, giving students a better understanding of this phenomenon. Deviance is discussed from the sociological perspectives of positivism and constructionism. Readers will grasp the reason behind deviant behavior through the positivist perspective and why certain actions, beliefs, and physical characteristics are condemned through the constructionist perspective.
New to this edition:
Two chapters on crime make clearer distinctions between criminalization of behavior, vs. criminal behavior itself
More discussion of the relativity of deviance, including how murder is socially and legally constructed
Expands the notion that conspiracy theory is a form of cognitive deviance
New discussion furthers the difference between labeling theory and constructionism
New Section on environmental pollution with reference to "green criminology"
New section added on Deviance and Harm
Newsworthy new features include:
A Formerly Homeless Man Speaks Out
Victimization and Abuse
Mass Incarceration
Stop and Frisk
Missing Black Men? (with implications for families and demography)
Arrest-Incarceration Gap
Disparities in Sentencing
The End of the Crime Decline?
The Brother of a Murder Victim Speaks Out
A Tattoo Collector Gets Inked
Faculty-Student Sex
Reflections on Studying BDSM
